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XI PHENOMENA OF ORGANIC NATURE 443 
sure to be trodden down, crushed, and overpowered 
by others; and there will be some who just 
manage to get through only by the help of the 
slightest accident. I recollect reading an account 
of the famous retreat of the French troops, under 
Napoleon, from Moscow. Worn out, tired, and 
dejected, they at length came to a great river over 
which there was but one bridge for the passage of 
the vast army. Disorganised and demoralised as 
that army was, the struggle must certainly have 
been a terrible one—every one heeding only him- 
self, and crushing through the ranks and treading 
down his fellows. The writer of the narrative, 
who was himself one of those who were fortunate 
enough to succeed in getting over, and not among 
the thousands who were left behind or forced into 
the river, ascribed his escape to the fact that he 
saw striding onward through the mass a great 
strong fellow,—one of the French Cuirassiers, who 
had on a large blue cloak—and he had enough 
presence of mind to catch and retain a hold of this 
strong man’s cloak. He says, “I caught hold of 
his cloak, and although he swore at me and cut 
at and struck me by turns, and at last, when he 
found he could not shake me off, fell to entreating 
me to leave go or I should prevent him from 
escaping, besides not assisting myself, I still kept 
tight hold of him, and would not quit my grasp 
until he had at last dragged me through.” Here 
you see was a case of selective saving—if we may 
